Under the Blue Spring Skies of Iwate – Train Cruise
[Music] oh we’ll Traverse iwat prefecture in Northeast Japan from moroka station along the Jr tohoku main line then take the kamishi line through to the Pacific coast a total distance of 125 km deities and legends pervade mountainous [Music] iwat have you ever fished with a cucumber [Music] delve deep into a cave in search of 300 milliony Old creatures Train Cruise through the burant Countryside of I prefecture and discover the value of [Music] Life a 2-hour shinkansen ride North from Tokyo takes you to moroka the largest city in I prefecture with a population of 300,000 hello and welcome to the show on this trip I’ve come to moroka city in iata prefecture the New York Times last year listed the 52 most worthwhile destinations in the world and this was one of them which has led to a big increase in Travelers I’ve come to see what the fuss is all about let’s check it out moroka has long flourished as a key Transportation Hub in the country’s Northeast a fact to which many Century old buildings stand as Testament the city is not too crowded and ideal for walking around so this beautiful building right here is where I’m going to go now I’ve heard this is a popular spot with the tourists let’s go and check it out this shop established in 1907 serves buckwheat soba noodles but they have an amusing way of doing it [Music] wova is served and eaten one flavored portion at a time no sooner have you finished one than another fills your [Music] bowl okay [Laughter] Hi D hi hi that’s hilarious Hi D it’s very good it’s very delicious I I feel a huge pressure to eat this quickly though Hi D there’s no way I’m going to beat the record but I give it a go the only way to stay her hand is to cover your bowl with the lid my own record is 75 portions or five typical servings of [Music] soba Baba akihiko the fifth generation proprietor shares some background on this style of eating soba so let’s head to Mora station and begin our journey the station is the start of the Jr tohoku Mainline which stretches 500 km South to Tokyo [Music] [Music] the Jr to Hoku Mainline acts as the local resident’s primary means of transportation and commuting sh [Music] the Jr to Hoku Mainline runs South through the center of iata prefecture our first stop is 35 km away [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] once through the suburbs we break free to pastoral [Music] [Applause] panoramas you can see all the rice fields here completely full of water right now in this season but this is very typical at this time of year just see the shoes just popping up out the water right now [Music] fore in this part of Japan you have to press the buttons to operate the doors this keeps the biting cold air from getting inside the train during the harsh Winters the peaceful rural city of hanamaki has a population of 990,000 it’s famed as the hometown of leading poets and children’s author maawa Kenji maawa created many Fantastical works his most famous Night Train to the Stars tells the story of a boy’s Train Cruise through space it’s available in English too [Music] many artworks inspired by his stories stand in front of hannam makaki [Music] station this clock is based on Night Train to the Stars every hour on the hour characters from the story Giver performance [Music] since I’m here I pay a visit to the maawa Kenji fairy tale Village a theme park where you can immerse yourself in the world of maa’s tales [Music] ooh so deep in the forest here I’ve just discovered some uh what are these are these mirrors maybe some kind of object oh they’re curved mirrors ah okay so if I stand in the middle here okay that’s how I look this way and if I turn around all right so I’m nice and thick in this one but then step closer and I put on [Music] weight playing around like this too long and you could forget which is the real you that’s cool that’s pretty [Music] cool this is the skyro it’s like I’m floating on top of the clouds here now above the town down below ooh I feel like I’m flying in on the [Music] winds ooh this is lovely the floor is lit up here as if you’re in in amongst the stars with all the mirrors you get an illusion of the immensity of the [Music] universe and you have a room full of miyazawa’s favorites bugs this is a great snail though look at the size of this guy now am I really really small or is he really really big oh this is a nice room and then seeing it’s something like that above your head oh oh my goodness this is a lovely location if you’re a kid or a kid at heart and it’s a beautiful introduction into the Fantastical world of maaak Kenji who I’ve never read but I’m now very inspired to read back at hanamaki station we changed to the kamishi line [Music] [Music] [Music] the Kami line is not electrified and diesel trains chug Through The Rustic landscape [Music] opened in 1950 the 90 km line climbs from hanamaki over rugged Mountain terrain then descends to kamishi station on the Pacific coast [Music] [Music] until automobiles became a major means of transports people and goods relied on trains to move between the mountains and the sea [Music] [Music] of course right now with all the fresh spring leaves it’s very very green right now very bright green traveling through mountains like this you feel the changing seasons [Music] an hour East out of hanamaki station and we arrive in the city of Toro which sits in a basin until the Kami line arrived the town was so isolated it was called the island on land and legends abound [Music] oh this is nice I’ve just stepped out of the station here and we have a little Pond and some objects here again look some creatures are these creatures or they humans no creatures wow the kaupa is a water Sprite with webbed hands and feet and a saucer on its head Japan is full of stories about Kappa but in tono they are revered as [Music] deities Kappa are believed to have lived here since time [Music] immemorial wow lovely little stream [Music] no one in tono is better versed in Kappa law than Storyteller unman Haru he regales each visitor with Legends of [Music] Kappa these water gods are said to love cucumbers for their high water [Music] content I grab a curved cucumber and give it a [Music] go yes there we go nice floats nicely on top n I thought I caught one there is a profound reason the Kappa Legend runs deep in [Music] tono for when food was scarce babies and young children were the first to go and were cast off those children were considered Kappa Offspring so parents returned them to the [Music] unman recounts the tales so that the tragedy that occurred during these poor times will never be repeated [Music] [Music] [Music] the households of tono also uphold a strong belief in another deity for centuries the residents of tono considered their horses who helped on their Farms to be part of the family a horse has even been [Music] deified hey [Music] do [Music] for the pair of deities the horse and the lady are called o long long ago a farmer’s daughter fell in love with their horse on finding they had married the outraged father killed the horse the daughter followed the horse to the heavens and together they became the guardian deities of households wishing Good Fortune to the good people of [Music] [Music] TOA Toro strikes me as a place is trying to make sure we gratefully remember the past or humbly remember the past and not only that I think it’s trying to make sure that we value life and that’s quite a spiritually humbling thing to experience this is a lovely Place Tor also boasts a popular tourist spot the mam morawa Bridge which is nicknamed mean Bridge or eyeglasses Bridge [Music] the best time to visit is at [Music] [Music] night the trains passing through seem to be flying through the sky [Music] okay so back at tunnel station for the next leg of our trip Let’s Travel another 20 km East on the kamishi line [Music] out of the city of tonor and deep into the [Music] mountains wow we’re we’re cutting through the the the trees here it’s a path just for us [Music] [Music] 30 minutes out of tono and we arrive at the UNM Kami arisu station at an elevation of around 400 m [Music] [Music] I’m the only person to get off the train start here and then turn around and look at this pretty nice it’s very intense green very spring fresh green wondering why we are lighted here in the middle of nowhere there’s a cave which attracts 15,000 people a year and I can see a nice Red Bridge over here just going over the lovely little stream to my left I think that is the entrance to the cave and if you prefer you can book a guided tour in advance the tours include helmets rubber boots and other spelunking equipment so you don’t need to bring anything oh wow oh it’s suddenly really cold as well you can feel the the the rush of cold air let’s go let’s go I’m Wai for my helmets here the temperature inside is a chilly 10° C year round [Music] for oh and it’s sniffy as well where we are now was actually underwater 300 million years ago and these are the seaes that lived on the seabed for [Music] the Limestone has been eroded by water over time forming caves I just realize something if you just stop for a second the only sound you have is a little Brook here the water drip dripping from the wall a little pond I think over there that’s it nothing else no wind oh we have now 30 minutes into the cave about 880 m in okay gosh look at the Grand [Music] fries water streams from a crevice in the rock face 29 m above one of Japan’s tallest underground waterfalls it’s so impressive and I love [Music] it you can feel the mysterious power of the Earth’s history rought over billions of years [Music] and there’s a fun attraction outside the cave too inspiration for this style of serving soba noodles was taken from the underground fall [Music] yes yes yes yay lovely thank you very much [Music] let’s resume our train trip down into the city of kamishi [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] Beyond this Red Bridge Engineers faced a huge challenge when building the line there is about a 150 M drop in elevation between Kami arisu station in the mountains and Riku oashi station below to avoid steep gradations the engineers opted for a curved train line that circles back on [Music] itself the long tunnel curves to the right slowly sloping down on the [Music] mountain and by the time we exit the tunnel we’ve turned 180° [Music] that up there is the bridge we crossed a few minutes [Music] ago about 35 minutes out of Kam arisu station and we reach the end of the [Music] line kamishi is the face of iwat thriving on international trade [Music] [Music] the city lies on the Pacific coast and over 1,000 people lost their lives here to the tsunami in 2011 [Music] now in 2024 the buildings and Port have been rebuilt and the city has returned to [Music] normal K soas here we go the cruise the 1hour cruise around kamishi Bay is run by a local Fisher who specializes in Catching octopus and congal he knows the Seas like the back of his hand oh look look look look look here we go oh it’s Majestic looking right down on us wishing us good fortune the kamishi daon bod satva was erected in 1970 to sooe The Souls of those who lost their lives in tsunamis over the centuries [Music] [Music] next we come up against a huge wall the kamishi Breakwater at the mouth of the bay protects the city [Music] [Music] the 1,950 M long seaw wall with a maximum depth of 63 m is the world’s deepest Breakwater it’s said that at the time of the Great East Japan earthquake in 2011 the Breakwater reduced the tsunami’s height by 40% and its speed by [Music] 50% the tsunami destroyed half of the sea war and it took 7 years to re [Music] bills it seems to me that the notion of really appreciating the value of life is deeply ingrained in the people here they want to remember the hardship of their ancestors whether that was 13 years ago or 13 100 years ago but not just a profound respect there’s also a playful side to it as well for example the Cucumber fishing or the unlimited soba or the playful fantasies these are both sides of the same coin it’s almost like their custodians of Life they’re merely passing on life to the Next Generation it’s just channeling through them [Music] [Music]
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A world of wonder awaits in Iwate, where people eat endless amounts of soba noodles, go fishing for yokai, and crawl through caves leading to a waterfall that cascades into an underground lake.
AloJapan.com